No Host With the Most

 If you're interested in this week's MTV Video Music Awards, there's great news: NO HOST! I repeat! There's no superstar comedian, actor, random person from across the pond, grandma's uncle hosting! Finally, MTV got it! We don't always want a host! We just want a half way decent show.
 Coming from MTV that's easier said than done. I haven't thoroughly enjoyed a VMA show since about 2001. I'm serious. In the years since, I've been very touch and go about the ceremony but having no host certainly helps.
 Last year, I saw Chelsea Handler get no love for some pretty bad jokes. And I'm not saying that out of spite. I've read some of her books and seen parts of Chelsea Lately. I know she's funny. But performing to a live group of celebrities is a whole different animal. If you've ever seen footage of Ricky Gervais at the Emmys or David Letterman at the Oscars, one wrong insult pretty much blacklists you from hosting a major event ever again.
 But on the other hand, different awards shows require different types of comedy. If you're hosting the Teen Choice Awards you have to be hip to what the kids are into; if you're hosting the Guys' Choice Awards you'll probably need to know what Maxim Magazine is.
 The MTV Video Music Awards, however, have long had this history of either elevating the status of the host or desecrating their career. Take for instance Russell Brand, who most of us never knew before his first VMA gig in 2008. Well flash forward three years, he married one of the performers (Katy Perry), has a solid movie career, and is well regarded in other countries besides his homeland of the UK.
 On the other hand, there's the Wayans Brothers (Marlon and Shawn) who hosted in 2000 in the prime of their Scary Movie success. They made a decent amount of headway, but since then have been relegated to making horrible, stereotype-laden movies that aren't really funny or different.
 Having no host means no camera pans to stunned celebrities, no awkward pauses for lack of a laugh, and no ridiculous monologue that we have to strain through until the actual performance. Now let's hope for a halfway decent show.
No VMA Host